Tuesday, October 18, 2011 – 04:30 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 – 07:15 p.m.
The attorney representing Rickie Lee Fowler is bringing forward strong accusations these days.
Fowler faces capital charges from allegations that he is the perpetrator who set the 2003 Old Fire. The case against him was brought by the District Attorney through a grand jury indictment obtained at the end of the criminal statute of limitations period.
Now Don Jordan, an attorney on Fowler’s defense team, is turning up the heat on San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos, San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops, and former Deputy District Attorney now Superior Court Judge Victor Stull.
In an e-mail sent to InlandPolitics.com Jordan asserts Fowler is an innocent political pawn of the three men, who were all seeking election or reelection to their current offices.
The accusations really come as no surprise, especially when Ramos is involved.
Here’s what Jordan had to say in his October 17th e-mail that I followed-up by telephone.
I am one of the attorneys representing Rickie Lee Fowler (my name happened to come up on the capital case when the county needed an attorney on this capital case). Fowler is accused of starting the Old Fire in 2003. Now that I have finished going through the massive file, I have, to my great surprise, concluded that he actually had nothing to do with it. The difficult thing is that this very troubled individual asked for it at the time by making a series of absurd false confessions. He was already serving a lengthy prison sentence and, at the time, was unaware that being convicted of setting the fire could result in a death or life without possibility of parole sentence. He mistakenly thought that it would do no more than add a few years to his existing prison sentence.
I allege in the attached motion to dismiss that he was prosecuted even though the DA’s Office and the Sheriff’s Dept., and specifically Deputy DA Vic Stull (now a judge), knew or should have known that Fowler didn’t set the fire because the Sheriff and Mike Ramos needed a scapegoat for setting the fire. Ramos appointed Vic Stull, 27 years with the DA’s Office, about Dec. 2008 to “bring the case home.” Stull rammed it through the grand jury in Oct. 2009 to use in support of his then-pending campaign for judge. Stull presented none of the evidence showing that Fowler didn’t know anything about the fire (Fowler claimed it was started a mile from where it actually started and that it started four hours earlier). Stull also did not present any of the alibi evidence which would have shown that the three people Fowler falsely claimed he was with when one of them set the fire were in fact not there, and many other things (including talking the grand jury out of even hearing from one of those Fowler said was present).
I also attach a motion to recuse the entire DA’s Office because of my allegations that Ramos, the Sheriff, and Stull were willing to send an innocent man to death in order to further their political aims of garnering support for elective office.
The motions are set for hearing before Judge Rouse on Oct. 31, 2011 in dept. S12 (Judge Smith, who has been the judge assigned to the case, recused himself from these motions because he was on Vic Stull’s campaign committee when he was elected judge in June 2010). Jury trial is currently set for Jan. 9, 2012.
Click here to read the Fowler – Motion to Dismiss
Click here to read the Fowler – Motion to Recuse District Attorney
Jordan was admitted to the bar in August 1963 and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and attained his law degree at the University of California at Berkeley.
Expect more developments and accusations in this case.
After spending an hour reading the defense attorney’s version of the facts it is quite obvious to me that his client is guilty. Jordan’s attempt to smear Vic Stull, a DA who has a long standing reputation for honesty and integrity, is vile and despicable. I assure you that Don Jordan does NOT have 5% of the reputation that Vic Stull does.
A jury will decide if the evidence is sufficient to convict the defendant, but giving this scum publicity was a tactical mistake. Nothing is gained by reprinting defense attorney lies, smears, innuendo, speculation, wishful thinking and pure misleading.
Most REAL and competent lawyers try their cases in the courtroom. You should be suspicious when a lawyer tries to try his case in the media. That should tell you how much he really believes in the case when he has to get the public who are not exposed to the evidence in the case to draw conclusions without knowing the evidence. When a lawyer does this it means he has real trouble proving his case in court. Non lawyers can get away with publicing their own viewpoints, lawyers only do it when their case is weak and unsupportbale by the rules of evidence and law.
Don Jordan is loser, anyway you cut it.
Wouldn’t suprise me at all if this was politically motivated.
Outsider you mean like “moonbeam” and Mikey did with the Colonies scandal?
Or how about the POST scandal? Where the DA brings charges against several past and present members of the Sheriff’s Department. Of course the evidence the DA is given comes from the Sheriff’s Department.
It’s now reported that one of the defendants that was charged has been cleared by the very department who brought charges against him in the first place. UNPRECEDENTED situation.That individual is back to work after being dragged through the mudd.
If that is true. and it appears it is, that is collusion between the DA and Sheriff. That should cause you great concern.
My point, at this time with everything going on in the County. I’d keep an open mind on potential FALSE prosecutions.
The County is notorious for with holding exculpatory evidence from the process.
I hope by now your asking yourself why our beloved DA didn’t jump on the ARMC,City of Upland, now the airport scandal with the zeal he has a couple of other situatuions.
I would think most readers by now would also question the abilities of the Grand Jury.
I mean they handed down 7 felony counts against Burum based on the alleged evidence giving to them by the DA. A short time later 5 of those 7 charges are dismissed by a judge.
I would think by now you might be peeking over the fence before jumping on it calling BS, especially with a particular person’s name attached to the potential stink?
The common factor between the Fowler case and the Colonies is the Statute of Limitations. As I understand the dismissal on the Colonies case, Ramos had a Statute of Limitations problem. Fowler was rushed through to beat the Statute of Limitations even though he had been in jail for about a year.
Does the DA have a problem getting cases filed before the Statute of Limitations?
OK, Im a believer now. After reading the very intelligent posts Ive come to the conclusion that the DA should not have filed charges against a guy who admitted throwing a flare into the brush so he could burn out his estranged in laws. Oh, and five people died from heart attacks because the ensuing conflagration burnt the hell out of the mountains. They dont deserve any attention…they’re only victims.
Yeah, lets show everyone how ignorant and biased we are against the current DA that we would rather let a murderer off scot free rather than pass up the opportunity to gain a political point. Yeah, thats not only real intelligent it is real integrity.
After all, its not what’s right, it’s what points can we score. Right, ACU?
Part of being right outsider is playing ball within the established rules of our system. Be right, score points within our system. It’s really easy to do.
Difficult for someone who is use to taking short cuts and seldom challenged on shoddy work.
Even if one confesses to a crime, one needs to be able to prove it outside the confession.
That might be the problem here. Botton line we will see.
I believe the attorney for this Defendant. The DAs are government run amok in this state. They crush freedom instead of supporting it.
Any one who is involved in the Criminal Justice System knows that the DA can get the Grand Jury to indicte any one for any thing. Proving it all in court in front of a jury is another matter entriely.
Hate to see scum and their defense attorneys (whose only job is to tell the truth) be able to take advantage of a shitty politically motivated DA to obscure the facts of the case. No prosecutor wants to file such a high profile case if it is a loser. The level of scrutiny is too high. Even if the indictment was from the GJ, you will eventually have to persuade a jury of San Bernardino’s finest that DNA can’t be transformed by EDTA, that reasonable doubt doesn’t mean only one witness instead of three, and that a dirty boss does not a dirty office make.
In answer to your specific comment outsider, no one in the criminal justice system who is professional wants to see ANY murder suspect walk who has been involved in a henious crime such as this.
Those same professionals don’t want their name attached to a shoddy prosecution either.
Those paying attention have learned since DNA came about, the dozens of death row inmates,life sentenced prisoners who have been set free after DNA confirmed they were NOT the ones who committed the crimes they stood accussed of.
In many of those cases the DA’s responsible REFUSED to accept responsibility for ANY mistakes. ARROGANCE at it’s finest after an innocent man spent most of his life in prison for something they did not do.
There may be no DNA in this case, but it should make one HOPE that all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed. Professionals NEVER lose sight of that when it comes to a case of this magnitude.
Because of our good ol boy system around here, the obvious lack of oversight in the day to day business of government and justice, many of the professionals have thrown the i dotting and t crossing out the window.
You might have noticed some of that in the last 5 years or so if you have been paying attention.
Just saying!!!!